Somalia, No ‘Political Legitimacy’ Without Genuine Reconciliation

Out of context, all concepts and issues find themselves under the mercy of the dimwitted and exploiters

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (R) and the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), Nicholas Kay (L), in a press conference for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the country, at Villa Somalia, in Mogadishu, Somalia, on June 8, 2013. Stuart Price/AFP/Getty Images

As the old saying goes, the more things change, the more they remain the same. On one hand, Somalia seems ahead of the curve as the debate is already underway on what might be the best process to ensure a legitimate outcome in the upcoming election (August 2016).

On the other hand, the fact that the whole debate on political legitimacy is exclusively confined within the parameters of the upcoming election indicates that nothing has changed.

The Somali state did not disintegrate because of elections or lack thereof. It disintegrated because of institutional injustice and chronic foreign meddling.